WEC News - Page 26

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Former World Extreme Cagefighting bantamweight title challenger Manny Tapia will return to action at WEC 40 in Chicago as he takes on former Shooto lightweight champion Akitoshi Tamura.
Tapia is coming off an unsuccessful bid to for the WEC bantamweight championship, being stopped by current champ Miguel Torres by strikes at WEC 37. The loss to Torres was Tapia’s first of his career. He’ll look to get back to his familiar winning ways at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago.

After a disappointing split decision loss to Thiago Tavares at UFC 94, “The Ultimate Fighter” 5 runner-up Manny Gamburyan confirmed his drop to the featherweight division from his previous home at lightweight.
“I don’t know if the cut is going to be hard or easy – I haven’t made 145 in almost 10 years – but I’m going to do it in a good way,” he told MMAWeekly.com on Wednesday. “I’m going to put together a beautiful training (camp).”

After a year of fighting in smaller shows, former World Extreme Cagefighting bantamweight champion Eddie Wineland will likely make his return to the organization against jiu-jitsu champion Rani Yahya at WEC 40, which is scheduled to take place April 5 in Chicago, Illinois.
MMA on Tap was able to confirm the bout with sources close to the fight. Both fighters have agreed to the matchup and it is expected to be finalized shortly.

The first Brazilian jiu jitsu lesson for Mike Budnik came just months after he ended a world-class professional inline skating career. He was a gym manager then, about six years ago, overseeing six facilities in the Chattanooga, Tenn., area.
One day, the general manager of one of his gyms was talking with him about jiu jitsu, which the man taught. He convinced Budnik, whose self image was that of a scrappy New Yorker ready to face any challenge, into attending one of his jiu-jitsu lessons.
Soon, Budnik even got involved.

World Extreme Cagefighting's loaded featherweight division just got a bit more crowded.
Rafael Assuncao, who has 10 stoppage victories among his 12 career pro victories, has signed a multi-fight deal with the WEC, his manager, Malki Kawa from First Round Management, today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).
As MMAjunkie.com recently reported, Assuncao had been considering offers from the WEC and the upstart Bellator Fighting Championships, where he would have competed in BFC's eight-man featherweight tournament.

Amidst rumors that he would meet Urijah Faber at WEC 40, Wagnney Fabiano has now agreed to face Fredson Paixao at the event instead. This confirms as false rumors of Fabiano meeting Faber next, stemming from a recent interview with the TATAME website.

''After sitting for a bit and really thinking about whats next, I have come to terms with my last few fights and the losses that I have been through. I meant what I said I am not done, I am gonna stay the course cause I believe in AMC and Matt Hume. I know that I am improving and I know that what I am learning out there is relevant and I will come back from all this.''

Zuffa, LLC. has just completed a string of four consecutive weeks where they put on a ten fight card (Zuffa, LLC. is the parent company of both the UFC and the WEC). That’s forty fights in four weeks folks. Each fight takes two combatants, so that’s eighty fighters. They take a week off for Valentine’s, then they have another three week stretch with events every week. Two of those cards have eleven fights scheduled, and one has ten.* That’s a further thirty-two fights, and sixty-four fighters.

With Strikeforce recently purchasing the majority of ProElite, look for them to not only create a woman's title in the near future, but to continue signing top ranked talent in that division and put together fights that the fans want to see, namely Gina Carano vs. Cris Cyborg.
If and when the WEC and Zuffa decide to pick up the woman's division, will it be too late?

World Extreme Cagefighting on Tuesday announced that it would add a flyweight division to the WEC championship divisions, confirming original reports by MMAWeeklky.com. The organization will no longer actively promote the welterweight division, instead continuing its focus on the lighter weight classes including lightweight (155 pounds), featherweight (145 pounds), bantamweight (135 pounds), and flyweight (125 pounds).

While he won't get the opponent he was proabbly hoping for, WEC welterweight Brock Larson is set ot make his UFC debut at UFN 18 on April 1. He just won't get Carlos Condit though, Larson will have to settle for Jesse Sanders.

Coming off his 3rd-round submission of Top 5 Featherweight Akitoshi Tamura, fellow Top 5 Featherweight Wagnney Fabiano will likely return to action at WEC 40 in April. An opponent for the #4 Featherweight according to WAMMA is TBA.

Rising featherweight contender Jose Aldo (13-1), who's won six consecutive fights (including three straight via knockout in the WEC), is expected to meet WEC newcomer Chris Mickle (26-11-1) next month at WEC 39.
Sources close to both fighters today told MMAjunkie.com that the fight is agreed upon, and though not signed, it could be finalized as early as Tuesday.
The bout would fill a spot on the WEC 39 fight card that was vacated with the recent cancellation of a WEC welterweight title fight between champ Carlos Condit and challenger Brock Larson.
Condit was forced off the card with a wrist injury, and he then signed to fight Martin Kampmann in April at UFC Fight Night 18's main event. The signing likely signalizes the elimination of the WEC's welterweight division, which will be absorbed by the UFC's already-stacked 170-pound class.
However, while the Aldo vs. Mickle fight could take a spot on the card, it won't take Condit vs. Larson's previous slot as the co-main event. As MMAjunkie.com recently reported, a bout between Richard Crunkilton and Bart Palaszewski has been promoted to co-headline status.
WEC 39, the organization's first-ever trip to Texas, takes place March 1 at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi. The night's main card airs on Versus.
Although Aldo, a Brazilian from the Nova Uniao team, has a solid base in grappling, he's put his crowd-pleasing stand-up game to use in recent fights. All three of his WEC victories have come via strikes, which included a second-round TKO of Alexandre Franca Nogueira in June, a third-round TKO of Jonathan Brookins in November, and a first-round knockout of Rolando Perez just eight days ago at WEC 38.
The 22-year-old will now likely meet a fellow youngster in 25-year-old Mickle, a 38-fight veteran who turned pro just four-and-a-half years ago. The Iowa-based submission specialist has fought in just about every major Midwest show and his racked up seven wins (six via submission and one TKO) in his past eight fights. In fact, 22 of his 26 career wins have come via submission, and only one victory has gone to a decision. And he's never been one to shy away from top competition; his list of opponents includes Jeremy Stephens, Clay Guida, Cole Miller, Rich Clementi and other notables.

A rematch between WEC lightweight champion Jamie Varner and number one contender Donald Cerrone is already in the planning stages, according to a CBSSports.com report by FiveOuncesOfPain.com and 15Rounds.com contributor Gary Herman.
WEC Vice President Peter Dropick not only confirmed the possible rematch, but said that Varner’s home state of Arizona is being considered as a potential destination.

WEC lightweight champion Jamie Varner’s split decision victory over Donald Cerrone at WEC 38 last Sunday in San Diego, Calif., could become a costly title defense.
“I broke my right index metacarpal, completely fractured,” Varner said on Sherdog Radio Network’s “Beatdown” show on Wednesday. “So I have to get pins put in it [Thursday]. Then I go next week to see my eye doctor to make sure my retina isn’t detached. And if it’s detached it could be a career-ending injury.”
Varner, who said he is still having trouble with his peripheral vision four days following the injury, has been indefinitely suspended until he can provide medical documentation that says the eye has recovered.
But it was the fight’s stoppage and the reaction it got that might have affected Varner the most.
“What hurt me the most was the crowd. They had no idea about the pain or suffering I was going through,” said Varner. “They had no idea I broke my hand in the first or second round. I don’t know exactly where. I remember one time in the fourth round that I just couldn’t hit him with it. I told my corner that I couldn’t use it anymore.
For Varner, the injuries kept on coming.
“He checked one of my kicks early in the fight and that’s where I fractured my foot,” said the Arizona Combat Sports fighter. “Then I kicked him in the head with it in the fourth and that was it. My foot was completely done. So I walked out for the fifth round with one hand and some takedowns. I had to grind out a decision… I knew the fifth round was going to be boring. I couldn’t offer anything really damaging.”
Varner (16-2) couldn’t see anything out of his right eye immediately following the illegal knee from Cerrone (9-1) that came in the final round and led the referee Josh Rosenthal to halt the bout. When a fighter can’t continue from an unintentional illegal blow, the bout goes to the scorecards. Varner was awarded the split decision...

With the recent loss of a scheduled welterweight title fight between champion Carlos Condit and challenger Brock Larson for the main card of "WEC 39: Brown vs. Garcia," a lightweight scrap between Richard Crunkilton (16-2 MMA, 6-1 WEC) and Bart Palszewski (30-11 MMA, 1-0 WEC) is slated for an elevation to co-main event status.
Sources close to the bout today alerted MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) of the pending change.
WEC 39 is scheduled for March 1 in Corpus Christi, Texas. The main card will air live on VERSUS.
Crunkilton debuted professionally in 1999. The 29-year-old won his first nine pro bouts before being derailed by Hermes Franca in his lone UFC appearance at UFC 42 in 2003.
The American Kickboxing Academy fighter has since won seven of his past eight bouts. His lone defeat in that stretch was a September 2007 TKO loss to former WEC lightweight champion Rob McCullough.
Palaszweski has been fighting professionally since 2002. The Extreme Challenge and SuperBrawl veteran gained further exposure during an 8-4 run in the now-defunct IFL.
Palszweski is currently riding a two-fight win streak after a successful WEC debut over Alex Karalexis at WEC 37 in December 2008.

“My medical bills are going to be way more than what I made in this fight. I had to get a bunch of X-Rays done, a CAT scan, I had to go get surgery on my hand, I’m gonna have to get my foot casted, I have to go back to the doctor and have my eyes checked out again, all that stuff adds up. It’s crazy that people can sit there and talk **** about me when they have no idea what I did [on Sunday night]. I laid it all on the line, I put my body through Hell. My hand’s broken, I can barely walk, my foot’s broken, I’m on crutches and I got a cast on my hand. I don’t know what the hell people wanted from me. It’s crazy.”